The crowd that gathered in Islamabad outside an Imambargah, a Shia congregation hall, was one of many gatherings that took place Monday evening throughout the country, mostly in the larger cities. In Islamabad, they stood in a small huddle lit by the candles they held.

Advertisement

“This is discrimination, and it is the beginning of a genocide against Shias,” one of the attendees, Quratulain Ali, told the crowd. Shia Muslims make up 20% of the population in Sunni-majority Pakistan. The mostly-Shia Hazara community has been targeted in the latest attacks because their Central Asian traits make them easily identifiable.

Annabel Symington/The Wall Street Journal

A young woman held a sign reading I am Hazara, kill me at a vigil in Islamabad, Feb. 18.

Ms. Ali, a Shia herself, had spent four days and nights on the streets of Islamabad in solidarity with the Hazaras killed in a separate attack in January. Ms. Ali said she would continue to return to the streets until the government addressed the rapidly declining security situation for Shias in Pakistan.

Some Sunnis also participated in the gathering. Samina Afzal, 25, said she attended the vigil to express solidarity with the Shia community. She said that the root of the problem lay in Pakistan’s imbalanced society. “Society is split between the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor,” Ms. Afzal said, “If the government addressed the imbalances, terrorism would not have a place in Pakistan.”

Many of those gathered there pointed fingers at the government for failing to quell the spread of militant groups throughout the country. “I know who is doing this, the government knows who is doing this,” said Khwaja Mustafa, chairman of the Markazi Asna Ashri Trust Islamabad, a Shia community group, “These are confirmed terrorists living out in the open.”

The Pakistan Peoples Party-led government has come under criticism from not taking a strong stance against the spread of sectarian violence in the country. Many known militant groups operate openly in the country despite being officially banned as terrorist organizations.

After the January killings, Islamabad replaced the local government in Quetta’s province of Baluchistan, but many say that is not enough.

The government is currently tasked with addressing a complex web of problems: a worsening security situation, a crippling energy crisis, endemic corruption and a stagnant economy, which have come to a head in what is a key election year.

Some, like Asifa Murdaza, who participated in Monday’s vigil, argued that human rights have been sidelined, and it was time for authorities to intervene. “There needs to be change and I don’t care who does it,” she said.

Annabel Symington/The Wall Street Journal

Children lit candles at a vigil for the Hazara killing in Quetta.

Pakistani intelligence officials say extremist groups, led by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the group that claimed Saturday’s attack, have escalated attacks on Shias to trigger violence that would pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in U.S.-allied Pakistan.

The split between Sunnis and Shias developed after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 AD when his followers could not agree on a successor. Emotions over the issue remain highly potent, and pushed Iraq five years ago to the brink of civil war.

In Islamabad Monday night, solidarity and peace was the main message, however.

“This is not a matter of Sunni and Shia. This is just terrorism,” said Abbas Maqavi, holding a candle at the vigil.

About India Real Time

India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.